After a few days in Paris, I was passing time before my Thalys earlier this evening in a brasserie across the street from the Gare du Nord...<BR>I know everyone advises travelers to Paris to give their French a try, but maybe some people really should stick to English. An American couple sat down near me and first asked the waiter: "Are your poisons fresh?" After being told, yes, the *fish* are fresh, the woman proudly (and loudly) announced,<BR>"Well, ok, I''ll have the sole manure." To which her husband added enthusiastically, "sounds great--manure for me too!"<BR>To his credit, the waiter remained completely polite and professional, not cracking a single smirk or raising an eyebrow. I, too, kept a straight face, but had to smile when I left the brasserie. The couple earned an A for effort, anyway.<BR><BR><BR>

Americans can manage to do some pretty funny things with English as well. When I was a young teacher, a friend and I took a package tour that including an annoying loud-mouthed ignorant woman who was always smoking and annoying everyone. One of the included tour lunches was a meal of paella. This woman wanted to show off that she knew what the ingredients in this "foreign" dish were. She loudly announed, holding up a piece of octopus or squid: "See this? These are testacles. the Spanish people love to eat testacles."

Geez, Carol, I must be Spanish then, because I love to eat testicles too!

troublemaker is back.

BTilke, I liked the way you told your story, without taking cheap shots at this couple who were obviously fully enjoying their Paris experience.I am happy to hear that the waiter appreciated their efforts.I also try my best to use my French, alhough the French must be sad to hear what I can do with it~and hopefully not too loudly.I am always thrilled when the waiter actually understands me ! Sometimes I want to apologize for butchering such a beautiful language, but the people I have met always encourage me to keep trying..and happily, I have never had (or noticed) anyone mocking me for trying ...I hope we all get A's for effort

Yes, and the opera Faust has the famous aria Salute de Manure in Act II.<BR>(Depending of course upon the version.)<BR>I think legions of tales can be told where non native speakers unwittingly make funny statements. <BR>

We've done our own share of Flemish language butchering. Figuring that Dutch/Flemish is much like German, my husband would always order me a glass of "rot wijn" (red wine) when we were in Flanders. After we started taking Dutch lessons, our teacher laughed, then told him he should have been ordering RODE wijn. When you ask for "rot wijn", you're asking for BAD wine. Live and learn!